Watching the Border: The Virtual Fence

Someone in the government must have decided it was an Edsel, because in June 2008, just a few months after the Border Patrol began using the virtual fence, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it would begin phasing out the original system, which it now calls a prototype and replace it with a brand new one covering the same 28 miles.

"There are people in Congress that have called this first version a failure. Do you agree with that?" Kroft asked Mark Borkowski.

"I think that given what we communicated to Congress about the expectations, I don't think we met those expectations. So I would define that as a failure," he replied.

"And now you've got what some people have called a do-over," Kroft remarked.

"Some people have called it a do-over. The mistake we made was we - this prototype, which was a beta version, we told Congress, 'It's gonna work great. You're gonna love it. It's gonna lock down the border for you.' Shame on us. We should not have said that," Borkowski said.

Asked if the project was oversold to Congress, he told Kroft, "We certainly did."

"Have the taxpayers got anything yet for that money?" Kroft asked.

"Frankly, it's very frustrating to me to try to explain where that money went when it's kind of ethereal, because it's design and it's connections, and it's integration, and it's computer software. But you do start to see it when you start to see the construction of towers. And that's where we are now," Borkowski replied.

Asked if he's happy with Boeing's performance on this, Borkowski said, "Boeing's had a mixed record. They seem to be improving. I'm spending a lot of time with Boeing. I'm getting happier. I'm not yet happy."

Borkowski, who still has the patience and the optimism of a former NASA engineer, believes that great technological advances are often plagued by early failure.

Last August, he took 60 Minutes to a secure facility in Playas, New Mexico, for a firsthand look at the new system, which was still being tested.

Agents Chris Geoffrey and Jeff York led us through a simulation of its capabilities.

The radar and motion detectors have been improved, and it is easier for agents to immediately tell whether an alert is more likely to be a human intruder or rolling sagebrush.

And the cameras are better too.

"The infrared picture looks even clearer than the daylight camera," Kroft remarked.

"Often times it will be, yeah. You can see at this point, you can see real clear if they had weapons or large backpacks or something, I can see that very clearly," one of the agents replied.

But it was impossible to tell how well the new system will work, given that everybody involved in this exercise was either a government employee or a contractor, and it seemed to have been rehearsed the day before.

"We were out there. We saw a demonstration. They had some Border Patrol agents disguised as illegal aliens in white T-shirts, running around, trying to get through the system. It seemed like it sorta worked," Kroft told Richard Stana.

"Yeah, it sorta does. You know, the issue is, is in what weather does it work? In what heat does it work? In what distance does it work? And how reliable is it? Those are the things that really are the limiting factors," he replied.

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[Bruno_Mueller]

Time has passed but still hard to believe how Boeing could fail with this project! They should have contacted Honeywell using their border protection solution (MAXPROTECT).
Multi sensor meta data fusion, geo-special analytics is available and could have solved all issues along this project.

B.

[bluegal12]

?Men are born to succeed, not fail." Thoreau
http://www.doyleraizner.com/Admiralty-Maritime-Law/Claims-Arising-From-the-BP-Oil-Spill.shtml

[bluegal12]

Hi, I am happy that i am already a member

[SoTxMedic]

WORKING IN SOUTH TX.AS A MEDIC, YOU REALLY BECOME AWARE OF WHICH BORDERS REALLY NEEDS PROTECTION.ATTN.FROM THE U.S.GOVERMENT.IT'S SAD BUT IT'S TRUE. IT'S RIGHT HERE IN OUR OWN HOMELAND AS A PRIORITY. THE GENERAL PUBLIC DOESN'T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST CLUE OF HOW OUR BORDER PATROL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ARE SO OVERWHELMED BY THE VAST POPULATION OF IMMIGRANTS CROSSING OUR BORDERS. MORE UNANNOUNCED CHECK POINTS NEED TO BE PUT UP. THESE COYOTES (SMUGGLERS) TRAVEL IN PACKS, AND EVEN HAVE THEIR OWN LOOK OUTS, THAT TRAVEL AHEAD OF THE LOADED VECHICLES AND WARN THE DRIVERS IF THERE IS ANY TYPE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OUT ON THE ROADS DOING THEIR JOBS. GIVING THEM A HEADS UP SO THEY CAN EITHER GO AROUND ANOTHER ROUTE OR HOLD OFF,HIDE OR POSTPONE THE TRIP.OUR LAWMEN ARE TRYING THEIR BEST BUT MOST OF THE TIMES THEY ARE UNDERSTAFFED.AT TIMES, THE COUNTY DEPUTIES WHEN THEY MAKE A STOP THAY HAVE TO WAIT AT LEAST 45MINS TO AN HOUR AND A HALF FOR THE BORDER PATROL TO SHOW UP.GUARDING THE IMMIGRANTS TILL THEY ARE PICKED UP BY BORDER PATROL. AT TIMES YOU HAVE 10-15 BEING DETAINED AND SOME OF THEM JUST TAKE OFF RUNNING TO THE BRUSH VS. ONE DEPUTY AT SCENE WHAT IS HE TO DO ? TAKE OFF AFTER THEM? THAT'S AT LEAST ONE HR. THE ROADS WERE OUT OF ONE DEPUTY PATROLING OR FIGHTING CRIME. NOW THINK OF WHAT NATIONALITIES ARE SOME OF THESE PEOPLE COMING INTO THE COUNTRY. TERRORIST PERHAPS ? WE WILL NEVER KNOW. CAUSE THIS IS A BUSINESS DOWN HERE. FOR THE COYOTES EARNING AT LEAST $2000.00 PER HEAD ONCE THEY ARRIVE AT THEIR DESTINATION POINT. HOUSTON, BEING THE MOST POPULAR BY FAR.WHERE THEY GET A JOB THEN MOVE ON UP TO OTHER CITIES UP NORTH.BEING HISPANIC BORN AND RAISED HERE I CAN COMMUNICATE VERY WELL WITH SOME AND SEE WHERE THEY ARE COMING FROM.ITS SAD BUT TRUE !!!

[woodusnret]

For the billion dollars spent, Boeing could have used off the shelf equipment that has a proven track record. That being the drones presently used in the war on terror. For the total amount of money spent and to be spent, a drone could have a section of border 100 to 200 miles long and even overlapped by the adjacent drones (when needed) the entire length of the border. All drones could be controlled from one central location. That location could house the information center to sort "targets". In the field there could be command posts for sections of the border. This would have sub sections manned by border patrol agents with with aircraft, helicopters and land vehicles to catch the intruders. This would negate the constant patrolling of the 2000+ miles. (a tremendous savings of fuel, wear and tear on vehicles and personnel). The command center would assign assests to maintain contact (much the way commercial aitcraft are assigned radar IDs) until air and land assests apprehend and confirm the targets. The use of visual, infra red and other technologies such as TDL and streaming info could be used. There are smarter people than I and I am sure they could come with with a command and control plan that would satisfy the border patrols needs. I am pretty sure there are systems available that function in the heat, cold and lovely conditions of Iraq and Afganistan that would work in the southwest. However before any plan is considered, please ask the guys doing the job what the need.

[tobobm]

One other comment had to do with the use of drones. I don't know why this proven visual technique hasn't been employed at the Mexican border. It's efficient, available and would cost far less than the tower program that is still in development, slowly, costly, and unproven.

tobobm

[marytattoo]

management has never listened to the worker. management makes stupid decisions all of the time and the worker (i.e. border patrol) is supposed to live with the consequences. dad always said it is the "boss/employee" syndrome. so the boss (government) comes up with a GREAT IDEA. and as usual, the boss' idea is silly. i mean, come on -- the border patrol using laptops while bouncing around the desert? i lose a cell signal in my house -- imagine the desert. and don't get me started on the "safety" issues of using a laptop while driving. "they" want people to use a laptop while driving? and we can't text? how ironic!

[bbizman99]

If you want a project millions over budget for something that uses way too much technology and doesn't accomplish the mission....hire Boeing. Boeing has a history for only hiring Ivy league grads and overqualified engineers, and turning out hardware millions over budget and years behind schedule.

Another white elephant from the Boeing company.

[dragon8me]

Ah, the military industrial complex at work again. The idea's not a bad one but they could buy the components cheaper and do the work in-house for a fraction of the price. Government contractors do create jobs but when you steal from the people, as the anti-health care crowd likes to say, you do more harm than good. First, private contractors are a dangerous concept. Fascism is corporateism. You get a lot closer to that when private companies are performing government functions. The people have no oversite. If the government isn't doing a good job we can throw a fit till they listen. It's the numbers that force change. We have the numbers for a lot of change. Ending prohibition for one. The government works for us, not the othere way around. We can make it work for us if we come together on what we agree and have a senceable debate on the others, but throwing mud is so much more fun, only it just stops progress because we're too diverted.

[myopinionpal]

The border can be gaurded here's how place land mines along the border place guard towers one mile apart along the border and man each
watch station with troops from Ft. Hood and Ft.Bliss and rotate them out with other troops and national guard units from across the country with orders to shoot to kill. This works very well along the DMZ that divides North and South Korea.